Planning Agencies are hampered in regional planning of Obstetrical (OB) facilities because of poor data collecting procedures and lack of an appropriate model to account for the admission of "clean" gynecological (GYN) patients. For example, three recent planning efforts (1,2,3) have a common omission in considering questions of expansion, contraction, and consolidation of OB units: The problem is that they do not know how to project the average usage of the OB unit by GYN patients under various bed configurations, because of (a) the complicated rules imposed by New York State (4) regarding admission of clean GYN patients, and (b) the unpredictability of the daily census in OB. This is a serious problem, not only because it may lead to inappropriate bed size recommendations, but also because of the financial penalties currently imposed on units operating at low occupancy. Recent analysis (1) has indicated that the penalties may be inappropriate, particularly for small units in rural areas. The objectives of this research are: (1) To collect more complete data on OB/GYN admissions and discharges; (2) To demonstrate the usefulness of this improved data in regional bed planning; (3) To develop a stochastic model which conforms to New York State regulations; (4) To test the model against the data to determine if it is helpful in predicting clean GYN patients flows under alternative configurations; (5) To analyze the impact of New York State regulations, particularly on small OB units as mentioned above. Simple "case study" methods will be used to explore the OB/GYN admissions procedures in several hospitals in this region. Within selected institutions, an indepth analysis of daily admissions and discharges of OB and clean GYN patients will be conducted, using PAS printouts in conjunction with surgical logs and floor census reports. Model development will involve standard Operations Research techniques such as queuing theory and simulation.